After yesterday's monsoon, which left my shoes soaking well through the following afternoon, today's mild temperatures and even bursts of sunshine were particularly appreciated. There was a good turnout at the arrival town of Red Deer's festival.
Andrea and I grabbed some space on a sweeping corner and got ready to watch the peloton complete three laps before finishing the day's ride. We were about 100 meters beyond the finish line, so we would see them racing three times and then they'd pass us a fourth time after a likely sprint finish on their way to the buses just up the road. The only downside to our spot was that there were no speakers so we wouldn't get to hear the announcer call the race with his oh-so unique style.
As the circuit was less than 5 kilometers, we knew to expect almost no down time at all between the riders and race vehicles flying by.
The breakaway of Kiel Reijnen, Robin Carpenter, Ben King, Simon Yates, and Aurélien Passeron couldn't have had more than 45 seconds' advantage over the hungry peloton.
Giant drove the peloton to reel in the break. Their goals were twofold: to deliver race leader Tom Dumoulin safely over the finish line and to set up for the anticipated bunch sprint. Belkin were also organized in hopes of the sprint.
Thierry Hupond.
Ben King and Simon Yates rounded the corner as the break were only a handful of seconds ahead of the pack.
Ryan Roth and Passeron of Silber tried to bridge up to the break.
Belkin pushed a high pace.
Post race drinks prepared, a soigneur from Giant pulled out his iPhone and joined the photographers.
With the break clearly doomed on the final lap, Ben King attacked one last time as the peloton looked on.
The Argyle armada.
With a blistering pace, several riders had been dropped or had pulled off once their work was done.
From our view, we could just see the finish line but it was impossible to distinguish individual riders. The peloton swarmed in its frantic energy approaching the line and, clear as day, a rider from Giant raised his arms in celebration ahead of Ruben Zepuntke in the distinctive green sprinter's jersey. So who had earned Giant's second stage win of the day (John Degenkolb took victory an ocean away at the Vuelta a España earlier in the day)? Rounding the corner, we spied Swedish rider Jonas Ahlstrand, panting like crazy, as the first Giant rider to pass and with Zepuntke still on his wheel.
Ramunas Navardauskas had sprinted to sixth place on the stage.
The pack.
Ted King.
Phil Gaimon.
Dropped riders.
Fred Rodriguez and Sean Mazich grabbed cans of Coke from their soigneur.
Matt Goss.
A moment later, his Orica teammates rode off in the direction of their hotel.
Ahlstrand and Zepuntke rode solo towards anti doping and the podium.
The lead secure by 9 seconds, Dumoulin didn't make much progress towards the podium before the media found him.
Another hat and another day in mustard for the Dutchman.
A lot of riders look relaxed and happy…until they're told to look relaxed and happy, at which point they become stiff and awkward. Not the case with Zepuntke! The 21 year old German was all smiles from ear to ear as he held onto the sprinter's jersey.
Simon Yates took the KOM title from Carpenter by one point.
Dumoulin in the best young rider's jersey.
Kiel Reijnen was so giddy to wear the most aggressive rider's jersey that he completely forgot what he was supposed to do and started to walk off stage before receiving his customary kisses from the podium girls. This earned him huge laughs from th crowd and the podium girls themselves who pulled Riejnen back.
Seventeen seconds off the lead, Ryan Anderson kept the best Canadian rider's jersey.
Dumoulin and Anderson.
The jerseys.
When asked about the stage, Anderson replied that it was a tough day out there and he was glad it was over. He said that his biggest competition for the Canadian jersey at the moment was from Christian Meier, so Anderson had sat on Meier's wheel for much of the stage and grinned every time Meier turned back. Ha!
I'm starting to think it's not possible to take a bad photo of Zepuntke! He was back on stage as the third place finisher on the stage.
Theo Bos was second.
In Europe, when a rider has received his flowers and whatever other gifts, it's customary to exchange cheek kisses with each podium girl. Poor Ahlstrand, he leaned in to kiss the woman on his left and she leaned back as far as she could without falling over! He had no idea what was wrong so the woman on his right, between fits of laughter, mimed that they would kiss him simultaneously. It was pretty funny to see him be so clearly rejected but it was nothing more than an innocent mix up.
The podium.
